


Like gravity

by litra



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Discussion of war, M/M, Military Ranks, Podfic Welcome, Soulmates, The Force, the force solves everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 05:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11525586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: Cody didn't know what he was feeling. The small tug towards the General kept catching him off guard. He never thought Obi-Wan might feel the same.





	Like gravity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TwoMenAndAGuava (drakkynfyre47)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drakkynfyre47/gifts).



 

Sentients who spent their whole life planet-side never really understood how different life on a ship was. Everything was regulated to optimize the efficiency of both the ship and whatever race was crewing her. The night and day cycle, the gravity, temperature, humidity, even the air they breathed were monitored and kept at perfect neutral. No extra distractions.

Which made it all the harder for Cody to ignore the quiet little tug in his gut.

It was nothing. He knew combat and this wasn’t the clench that set his adrenaline going, the prickle at the back of his neck that meant he was in some clanker’s sights. It was just a tug to walk down a corridor when he was otherwise distracted. A stray thought that maybe, since he was off, he’d go to the gym or the mess or the observation deck, only to forget his purpose or change his mind once he was there.

Like now. The night cycle was just starting, and it’d been a long day, even if not a particularly laborious one, full of strategy meetings and supply schedules. They were between deployments, waiting on Skywalker to report in. He’d headed to his bunk, and somehow ended up in front of his general’s door.

He turns around, and deliberately chooses each turn back to his own bunk.

He has an idea what it could be, a dark sneaking suspicion that he doesn’t dare look at straight on. It’s a lot of little things, that have started adding up, whether he wants them to or not. Troops talk after all, always have, doesn’t matter the race or era. His rank means he interacts with others as much as his brothers, and the Jedi….

Kenobi hadn’t been what he expected.

When CC-2224 had first received his orders, he’d accepted it without question. He’d read all the briefings on the planet they were headed to, and then done a bit of his own research. Jedi may be powerful individually, but granting them the title of General didn’t mean they knew how to lead men into combat. He expected to have to manage Kenobi, nudge him in the right direction, so his men didn’t get picked off left, right, and center.

He’d found more tall tales then facts. Skywalker was young, impulsive, relied on luck far too often. Kenobi was…. He was always there beside Skywalker, unsurprising since they had been master and student. He was toted as a negotiator, except a surprising number of those negotiations went to hell half way through. Where Skywalker was a flair, likely to set off whatever situation he was dropped in the middle of, Kenobi was….

Before he’d been able to figure it out, they’d landed in the middle of things.

Kenobi, had always had his loyalty, at least on paper. Then he fought at his shoulder. He listened to the counsel of a clone. He made wry comments and never wasted his men’s lives even when they were backed into a corner.

He gave Cody a name.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was his general. It was natural that they’d work closely together, and that the Jedi would often wander through his thoughts. He never considered it might be the other way around as well.

“Cody, what are you doing up so late?”

“Reports from the Alderaan system General.” He waved at the console in the center of the smaller briefing room. The lights were only at fifty percent and he’d given in and was actually using a chair rather than standing at parade rest like he normally did when on duty. The reports could have waited until the day cycle of course, but he’d been hoping the work would distract him.

Kenobi lifted an eyebrow. The quiet disapproval might be at him overworking himself, or it might be that Obi-Wan had asked him to use his first name several times by now.

“Anything interesting?” Kenobi asked. He slid into his own chair, leaning forward over the console until there was less than a foot between them.

Interesting, as if an attack or an assassination was merely a plot twist in some holo-vid. He should be angry, or at least frustrated at the casual discussion of lives lost. Except, Kenobi’s optimism, his light, is what’s kept Cody going through more than one hard spot.

“No sir. Everything’s on schedule, the supplies should reach us just as planned.” a casual gesture slid the relevant documents to Obi-Wan’s station.

Silence stretched while the jedi looked over the forms for himself. It was comfortable, like taking off his helmet and feeling the wind on his face. It made no fragged sense but the tension in his shoulders eased as his hand traced the edge of the console.

“Cody, may I ask you something of a... personal nature?”

He turned to his general, surprised, but Obi-Wan was just watching him, waiting for an answer.

“Of course sir.”

The jedi shook his head, “We’re not on duty, you can use my name.”

“Yes sir.” it was out before he could think about it, but it made Obi-Wan huff out a small laugh so it was worth it.

“I was wondering if you’d ever heard of resonance, or I guess some people call it soulmates?”

“I guess I have. Some kind of common-folk fairy tail.” He shrugged. He honestly didn’t have a clue where this was going.

“It’s not a fairy tale, not more than the force is. Resonance is… It’s when two beings have force signatures so complimentary that they’re drawn together. It’s said that when resonant people are together, they become more than just themselves; like notes of music that when played together become a song.”

Cody looked unseeing at the documents in front of him. A part of him was screaming yes. That had to be what he was feeling. Except it wasn’t possible. He was just a clone. They’d never let a clone have something as personal as a soulmate. Formality was a safe fall back point.

“That’s very interesting sir.”

“Cody, please?”

He looked up, met Obi-Wan’s eyes. He watched the lines smooth off his forehead, and a small smile tug at his lips.

“I’ve been fighting it too,” Obi-Wan said, barely above a whisper. “There’s supposed to be a connection. A moment when you touch, and know the other person as well as you know yourself, so I thought, this had to be something else.”

Cody nodded. He started to shift back in his chair, but Obi-Wan caught his hand and went on.

“Then I realized something. The clone armor, the design is useful for a lot of things of course, but covering every spare patch of skin… And then there’s the stigma about clones taking off their helmets….”

Cody slowly sank back into his chair.

“I’ll drop it if I’m wrong, or if you’d rather not. I don’t want to force you into anything but… have we ever touched before? Skin to skin?” Obi-Wan trailed off.

They hadn’t. Cody knew they hadn’t because of how often he’d wanted to. Not anything sexual, though there certainly was that aspect to it, but simpler things. What would Obi-wan’s beard feel like in a kiss. Was his hair as smooth as it looked? What would it be like to cup the back of his neck or pull him into a hug, or lace their fingers together under a conference table.

Obi-Wan lifted a hand, then hesitated. “May I?”

Cody didn’t know exactly what he was asking, but it didn’t matter, his answer was the same.

“Yes.”

Obi-Wan’s hand landed lightly on his shoulder, then slid over his collar.  He leaned in.

It was like lightning. Like the smell of the ocean and the grip of a lightsaber. It was the distant rumble of a ship’s engine, the serenity of a warm drink on a cold day. Obi-wan was like a star, and he fell happily into his orbit.

They were leaning forward, foreheads pressed together. At some point Cody had reached out, tangling his fingers in Obi-Wan’s robes. Obi-Wan’s hand kept him where he was with a grip on the back of his neck. There were tear tracks down Obi-Wan’s face, and Cody was fairly sure there were some on his own as well.

“Thank you. Oh Cody, you’re amazing,” the Jedi whispered.

“Nothing compared to you...” he hesitated, swallowed down any further emotions. He really didn’t have any excuse now. “Obi-Wan.”

His general smiled, and it was like the sun rising all over again.

They would need to tell people. There would be reports and explanations and sidelong looks. Cody did not even want to think about what General Skywalker and Asoka would say. And at some point they’d need to have a real conversation about what this meant.

But that could wait until morning. For now, he was going to stay right where he was, wrapped in his General’s arms.

  



End file.
